No bar on telecasting Khaleda's address

The government yesterday categorically said there was no bar on telecasting BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's address live from the party's divisional grand rally in Rajshahi.
The government's response came after several newspapers reported on Wednesday that the private TV channels would not telecast Khaleda's address from Rajshahi rally due to restrictions imposed by the government.
“The report is 'misleading' and 'ill-motivated',” said the government in a handout issued hours before Khaleda's rally yesterday.
However, ntv, a private TV channel owned by former BNP lawmaker Mosaddek Ali Falu, telecast the speech of Khaleda, also the leader of the opposition in parliament, from Rajshahi Madrasa Maidan.
Mostafa Feroj, head of news of Banglavision, another TV channel owned by pro-BNP entrepreneurs, told BBC that there was no bar from the government on telecasting political programme.
He said the TV channels take decisions on their own regarding telecasting opposition's programmes and that the government sometimes only requests them to telecast 'the address of the prime minister to the nation'.
Earlier, different TV channels telecast Khaleda's address from Chittagong on March 29 and from Khulna on April 18.